Sexual harassment can be a safety issue at work. Why? All your employees have a right to fair treatment at work. If they feel sexually threatened either directly or through a hostile environment, they may be distracted and unable to follow all safety precautions because they are worrying about a situation they should not have to worry about. Talk about these issues with your employees:
- Sexual harassment harms everyone, not just the victim.
- Both men and women on every level may be harassers or victims.
- They may be of different sexes or both may be the same sex.
- A harasser may be another employee, a supervisor, a supplier, or a client or customer.
Help your workers protect themselves from sexual harassment by training them to define it and recognize it. Civil rights laws define sexual harassment as sexual conduct that is unwelcome, harmful, or illegal.
- Unwelcome conduct can include sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, or displays of sexually explicit or suggestive materials.
- Harmful conduct can hurt either the physical or emotional health of the victim, or of witnesses to the conduct.
- Unwelcome conduct and/or harmful conduct create an unproductive, unpleasant—and sometimes even hostile—working environment, and it is not allowed in the workplace.
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Sexual harassment may include tangible employment action—also known as quid pro quo or “this for that.”
- Someone might be fired or given undesirable assignments because he or she refuses a sexual request.
- It could also work the other way around—someone may receive a promotion or raise in return for providing sexual favors.
- The employer is automatically liable if a supervisor takes tangible employment action against an employee.
A hostile work environment is the other main form of sexual harassment.
- Offensive conduct must be severe and may be directed at one person or may be general throughout the workplace.
- Examples of a hostile work environment include:
- Posting sexually explicit pictures, calendars, graffiti, or objects around the work area.
- Regularly using dirty words, making sexual jokes, using obscene gestures, or making rude comments of a sexual nature.
Friendly contact between workers is allowed. The law only prohibits behavior that a reasonable person would find offensive.
- One worker may invite another for a date or other social engagement.
- Repeated invitations should not be made if they are refused.
- The person who is the subject of any unwanted sexual behavior should say that the behavior is unwelcome and ask that it stop.
- f it is not stopped, the behavior should be reported as sexual harassment according to the company’s procedures concerning such matters.
Let workers know that the organization will investigate any complaints promptly to ensure that any offensive behavior is stopped at once. Sexual harassment is illegal and is not allowed in our workplace.
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Why It Matters
- As many as 70 percent of American women and 20 percent of men have experienced sexual harassment on the job.
- Approximately 15,000 sexual harassment cases are filed each year.
- Complaints filed by men have more than tripled in recent years.